Monthly Archives: December 2015

Jam and jelly, that is. Over the course of the past year and a half we’ve (DH, me, our friend S) been gathering fruit and berries and stashing them in the freezer in preparation for a monster canning session during the cold part of winter. Didn’t get it together for last year, so we had quite a buildup for the Jam and Jelly Marathon.

It started two days ago. We arrived at S’s, and I got started on strawberry plus blueberry lime jams, two batches each.

Yesterday, I whipped out a batch of plum jam, two more batches of blueberry lime (one with huckleberry that is…eh, a bit odd), and two batches of raspberry jam.

Today was another five batch day with two batches of evergreen blackberry and three batches of blackberry (Himalaya). That made fourteen batches of jam and jelly in three days.

Whew. No wonder I’m feeling a bit sore and achy. OTOH, we now have enough jam to last us for a while. Well worth the work.

Before I dive into more jam and jelly making…here’s Netwalk’s Children Monday!

Hoping that people are staying safe and warm today. Be careful out there!

In which Melanie discovers that Gizmo has its claws deeper into her nephew Rick than they previously suspected…

And as always, if you want to read the whole thing, the books can be found at Amazon, Nook, iBooks, Kobo, and etc. Or if you’re not already signed up for my newsletter, do so today and you’ll get a chance at getting a free copy? I’m giving away two copies of Pledges of Honor and Netwalk’s Children as a part of my New Year’s newsletter. What a way to start out 2016! Message me or send an email to jrw at aracnet dot com.

It’s been a busy fall and December. Some of that has to do with various aspects of our new life, other parts with bringing out two books this fall, and still other pieces…oh wait, that’s part of the new life.

Basically, I spent part of December doing two craft shows, one which went well and one which didn’t. The prep for that and the aftermath sucked up time. Then I’ve been writing some guest blogs, and working on a contest essay, and pounding away on Beyond Honor (which is proceeding annoyingly slow, arrgh). There’s also been holiday stuff such as making Christmas cookies, and going to a Winter Dinner which was also a fundraiser because locals are trying to buy the Wallowa Lake Lodge, and, and, and…

Add to that the fact that Miss Mocha Feels Right Good as a result of being part of the herd and getting to eat her head off 24/7, to the extent that she’s playing horsie jokes. Dealing with fresh-feeling horse who doesn’t want to be caught sucks up time, especially in a 40 acre pasture with a foot of snow. But I am loving every moment of it because she is clearly feeling so much happier and healthier that it is worth it.

We also ended up making a flying overnight trip to Portland after the big deluge to deal with basement issues. Luckily, that turned out well. No real damage and we dealt with some issues.

The life up in Enterprise is falling into a winter rhythm. We’ve had snow since mid-November. Not always a lot but there’s always been some on the ground. The little house is nice and warm with the wood stove.

I also prefer life in snow country to life in rain country.

Tired after making four batches of jam from frozen fruit. The theory is that it’s better to process jam from fruit kept in the freezer so that the heat from the jam-making helps warm the house in the cold season as opposed to turning the house into an oven during the summer. As long as we’ve got the ability to use a freezer, I guess it works.

Blogging about Christmas and all later on….for now, it’s Pledges of Honor Chapter 4. Just got a lovely review on Goodreads by someone who couldn’t put the book down. Oops, now I need to get cracking on Beyond Honor.

So here it is, Chapter Four, in which Katerin finally gets the remembrance spell lifted and she realizes the significance of Wickmasa….

And as always, if you want to read the whole thing, the books can be found at Amazon, Nook, iBooks, Kobo, and etc. Or if you’re not already signed up for my newsletter, do so today and you’ll get a chance at getting a free copy? I’m giving away two copies of Pledges of Honor and Netwalk’s Children as a part of my New Year’s newsletter. What a way to start out 2016! Message me or send an email to jrw at aracnet dot com.

In which Melanie and Andrew debrief after one heck of a Corporate Courts meeting, and Bess discovers an issue with her cousin Christina.

And as always, if you want to read the whole thing, the books can be found at Amazon, Nook, iBooks, Kobo, and etc. Or if you’re not already signed up for my newsletter, do so today and you’ll get a chance at getting a free copy? I’m giving away two copies of Pledges of Honor and Netwalk’s Children by New Year’s. What a way to start it out! Message me or send an email to jrw at aracnet dot com.

So here’s Chapter Three of Pledges of Honor. Katerin gets to the Healing House, to find out that it is indeed as Imnari says…”Wickmasa has need” is all she has to say.

Interestingly, these chapters tend to run short while Netwalk’s Children runs long. I’ve never really paid attention to the different lengths of chapter before. Funny how that works.

And as always, if you want to read the whole thing, the books can be found at Amazon, Nook, iBooks, Kobo, and etc. Or if you’re not already signed up for my newsletter, do so today and you’ll get a chance at getting a free copy? I’m giving away two copies of Pledges of Honor and Netwalk’s Children by New Year’s. What a way to start it out!

And now we’re getting into it. Netwalker Sarah reads the riot act to daughter Diana, and then the next generation gets into it when there’s a big showdown at the Corporate Courts meeting. Long chunk, but fun. And if you’re in a hurry to read the rest of it…you can find Netwalk’s Children at Kindle, CreateSpace, Nook, Kobo, iBooks…choose your favorite source!

Running late on getting Netwalk’s Children up today, plus I’m running behind on Pledges of Honor. But I did have a good excuse…as in two craft shows plus a flying overnight to Portland to deal with possible basement issues after the deluge there…

So a quick catch-up. The first weekend in December I participated in my first craft show in years. At least 13-14 years, perhaps? I can’t remember when I stopped doing them but I know I stopped for certain by 2003, when I went back to school to get the teaching certificate. Even with giving jewelry away as presents and selling or trading a couple of items at music festivals, I still had a sizable inventory of earrings, necklaces, and wineglass tags. I noticed that several bazaars/craft shows were happening in Wallowa County over the weekend, and I couldn’t do them all, so–I went for the first one I heard about.

It was–underwhelming. My sales were minimal and the audience wasn’t really there for jewelry. If anything, most of the sales went to several people who had an established clientele that came in to buy their stuff and maybe look at other things. If it hadn’t been for some trades for morels and essential oils, I would not have made my booth fee. If I hadn’t had previous experience with a poorly performing show, it would have been more discouraging than it was.

However. An organizer for a show the following weekend, in downtown Enterprise, talked to me during this show. We had been toying with the notion of a quick run over the weekend to attend a party, but the forecast didn’t look good. So I went ahead and contacted the organizer, who had a positive memory of my booth management. I got a space.

Then the son called. There was water in the basement but he wasn’t certain how bad it was, and he was reluctant to try and sort out the mess. So we raced down (eyeing the forecast as those two days were the only mellow trip days available this week) and surveyed what happened. Fortunately, when I’d been piling potential garage sale stuff in the basement, I’d used my head and very little outside of boxes got wet. Things got sorted and moved, and we were back on the road early the next day. Got to Enterprise, then had to run down and set up my booth.

Show Two was much different. I sold earrings (and only one necklace; this does not appear to be a place for necklaces). I could also bring my books and sold three copies. Along with that, I got to meet a local bulk leaf tea source, get some ideas for crafts for next year, hook up with another massage therapist, and trade for homemade chocolate. We also got serenaded by carolers both days, and watched the parade of lights on Saturday. For such a small town it was a pretty good parade, too.

Am I getting back into jewelry full scale? No. It just isn’t going to pay. I am going to pick up some findings but otherwise, I’m looking for craft stuff to help me use up my stock of beads, craft, and paper supplies laid in during years of beading, 4-H leading, and teaching. Besides having fun with some of this stuff I want to get a little cash back from it, so…I’m keeping notes on the shows, looking for some local outlets, and tiptoeing into the art (well, okay, the craft) world.

I guess I also do some pretty decent embroidery which is another thought, too.

All this and writing too…but damn it, the writing’s got to take off soon as well.

Anyway, I need to head out. The Netwalk’s Children chapter will get posted later, and I PROMISE I’ll do more than post chapters. Okay?